Gold and silver coins found near the Jupiter Inlet

James Wieland - 

There are a lot of treasure hunters up and down the coast. The crew of the Seahunter in Jupiter does not consider themselves one of them, but call themselves 'treasure finders' and say it's their passion.

"It's got nothing to do with money, it's about finding treasure. The treasure's not fun after you get it, it's the finding it, it's the going out there with your buddies and diving and the adventure. The sense of adventure, that's what it's all about." says Scott Thomson, the captain of the Seahunter.

A 350-year-old Spanish ship sank off the Jupiter Inlet. Thomson says it's the "San Miguel De Arcangel that wrecked in the winter of 1659/1660 and had about 100 people on board."

There's silver and gold in the water. Over the past week, the crew found more than 50 Spanish colonial coins.

"We found gold for the first time in the last 10 or 15 years, and we also found a 1659 Lima-2 Star that was double struck so it has two sets of the words and two sets of the pillars and its quite a rare coin," Thomson said.

Daniel Mendoza, a coin expert from the International Coin Collectors Association, deals with buying and selling artifacts.

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